“It’s a bit too soon to tell,” Dr. Proton says. “It might be. Tell me
more about the scene of the crime.”

“We found it in a nice suburban home. The residents, a young happily
married couple was found there, their hearts ripped out.”

“Yow. Superhuman involvement?”

“Only explanation I guess. No idea who, though. More and more of those
super-villains are finding their way over from New Troy. Good thing we have our
own superhero like they have.”

“I’m a scientist, not a superhero,” Proton says.

“Well, you kicked a lot of villain-behind, that makes you a hero in my
book,” Simpson says.

Proton smiles. “Thanks, I guess. Any idea why that couple was killed?”

Simpson shrugged. “No idea. They were hard-working folks. Not involved
in any shady business whatsoever. Nothing seemed stolen. No signs of break-in.”

Proton rubs his chin. “Maybe I should have a look at the crime scene.”

“Sure, you’re welcome to it. I can drive you over in my Crown Vic.”

An energetic smile appears on Proton’s face. “I can get there faster…”

A few minutes later a VTOL plane the size of a small car zips off from
the roof of Proton’s spherical lab building…

*

New Troy. A building site. Godling is fighting against a creature that
appears to be half-human, half bug. It looks like a beetle standing erect like
a man. Godling’s hands are wrapped around two spindly legs that the creature
uses like hands.

“I don’t know what you are or where you came from, but you will pay for
killing those construction workers,” Godling says.

Five cops stand close to them, weapons in hand.

One of them is Officer Janson, “Can’t get a clear shot of that thing. I
don’t want to hit Godling.”

The cop next to her says, “Godling can probably take care of this thing
on his own.”

Godling kicks the beetle in the abdomen, sending it flying through the
air. It crashes against a bulldozer.

Godling summons a lightning bolt with the power of Zeus. The lightning
crackles in his hand. The beetle gets up and flies towards Godling. Godling
throws the lightning bolt, but the beetle manages to avoid it. The bolt hits
the bulldozer instead which erupts in flame.

“Crap, now we’ve got a fire as well!” Janson says.

The beetle has reached Godling and get its claws on him, mandible
snapping at the hero’s neck. Godling headbutts it, using the strength of
Heracles. The armored head of the beetle cracks, the pain making him release
Godling. Then Godling grabs a wing and swings the beetle around, letting go… And
the beetle flies right into the burning bulldozer. Only a cadaver remains.

Janson winces. “Fried insect, nice…”

“What the hell was that thing, anyway?” the other cop wonders.

“I don’t know. Never seen anything like it…” Godling says, scratching
his head.

“Maybe one of Master Destiny’s creations we hadn’t locked up yet?” Janson
suggests.

“Might be. But it seemed a bit too alien for that. Maybe that’s what it
was. Of alien origin. Captain Wrakk’s attack showed us we’re not the only ones
in this galaxy.”

“Yeah, I guess. So now what?”

“It might be good to investigate this thing further. I’m going to take
it to Tesla City. There’s some kind of superbrain living there who might have
an idea what that thing was.”

“I heard of him. Doctor Proton, right? He’s also a bit of a superhero,
right?”

“According to the news. He recently took care of some of our supervillains
that thought Tesla City would be an easier prey than New Troy. Apparently they
hadn’t heard of Doctor Proton yet.”

“I think it must be cool for you to see how you inspire all those other
folks to put on a costume and try to do some good.”

“It feels a bit weird, to be honest,” Godling says. He knows the Greek
gods are happy about it, though. Inspiring people is what they want him to do,
hoping it will make more people worship them again.

*

Doctor Proton and Detective Simpson exit the VTOL, parked in front of
the house of the murder victims. There’s still some remnants of crime scene
tape.

They enter the house. Doctor Proton is carrying some kind of scanner.

“What’s that you’re holding?” Simpson asks him.

Proton looks up from his device. “It scans for all kinds of stuff. Radiation,
energy sources. In fact it is picking up some unknown kind of radiation.”

“Wait… Is it dangerous. I don’t want my hair to fall out!”

“You can relax. It’s not strong enough. A regular Geiger counter wouldn’t
even pick it up. I’ve never seen its particular wavelength before, however.
That’s odd.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well, for lack of a better term… It seems to be alien.”

“Crap! No kidding.”

The floorboards suddenly break and from underneath the same beetle-like
creature Godling fought pops up.

“You figure that’s alien too?” Simpson asks, distressed.

“It might be,” Proton says and barely manages to avoid the beetle’s claw
that slashes at him, smashing a chair in the process. “Let’s call in the cavalry.”

Doctor Proton uses his superhuman ability to split himself up in smaller
copies of himself. More and more appear until there hundreds of him, the size
of a mouse. The Protons surround the beetle.

“Time for some pest-control,” the hero says.

TO BE CONTINUED….

Hope you enjoyed the first issue of this new series. It is partly based on the
Invincible Universe and partly on Marvel Team-Up and gives me the chance to show
more of Godling's world and introduce some new heroes.

woensdag 16 oktober 2013

Six men stand around a dark being in an old warehouse. They wear robes
and carry scimitars.
The dark being has a human shape but with a long scorpion tail. A
better look shows it is made up entirely from living scorpions,
skittering around
"Who has summoned me here?" the being asks.
"Scorpion God, we are the Scorpion Cult and have been worshipping you
for years," one of the men speaks. "My name is Jeremiah."
"Why did you summon me?" Scorpion God's voice rumbled.
"We want you to rule this city and after that this country, then the
planet, creating the chaos needed to rebuild it."
"Where do I start?"
"I think you need to establish your reputation first. I have a great
opportunity tonight for you to create the carnage necessary to make
the people of this city to bow for you."

*

The Troy Coliseum is the place to see new bands in New Troy. Tonight
The Cash headlines. They are on stage, clad in leather jackets and
Johnny Cash shirts, playing their instruments.
There's a pretty big audience. Among the audience are officer Janson
and professor Quentin Alexander. She is wearing a Johnny Cash T-shirt
and jeans. Quentin is wearing slacks and a short-sleeved shirt.
"Aren't they great?" Janson says to Quentin.
"They're a lot louder than Johnny," Quentin says.
"Yeah, that's why they're a punk band. Can I get you another Coke?"
"I'll get it. You want another beer?"
"Would love to," Janson says and holds up an empty bottle.
Quentin walks over to the bar, thinking, "What great girl. Such a
lively spirit. And I must say she looks pretty good in those jeans.
She's almost as attractive as Monica. Maybe I really shouldn't..."
His thoughts are interrupted when one of the walls breaks down and
Scorpion God gets on stage. Panic breaks out, people start to run
everywhere.
Scorpion God impales the guitarist of the band on his tail and breaks
the singer's neck with his hands.
Quentin uses the confusion to change in Godling, thinking "I don't
know what that thing is, but I need to stop it, fast!"
Janson grabs her cell phone and calls the police, screaming, "There's
a monster at the Coliseum. Sent a SWAT team, fast!"
Scorpion God leaves the entire band bleeding on stage and walks into
the audience. His tail and fists has the blood and even body parts
flying. Janson throws a bottle at him, but that just breaks without
hurting him. He focuses his attention on her now, however, walking
straight to her.
She gulps.
He grabs her with his tail and lifts her from the floor. Godling
rushes over, hitting Scorpion God in the side. Scorpion God drops
Janson.
"Who are you? I felt that," he says to Godling.
"I am Godling, protector of this city."
"I am Scorpion God and will be your DOOM!" Scorpion God says and
swings his tail at our hero. He holds up his arms to ward off the
blow, but it is so powerful it still sends him flying through the
room, first knocking over people in the audience, then ending up
knocking over bottles behind the bar.
Winded, he gets up. Blood is coming from his mouth. "I do not know
from what pit of hell you came from, but I am sending you back!"
"Try," Scorpion God says and moves towards Godling, throwing members
of the audience left and right to clear a path.
Godling tears out the bar and hits Scorpion God with it. The blow
makes the little scorpions skitter away from each other, temporarily
breaking up Scorpion God's body. Like a madman Godling uses the speed
of Hermes to crush the scorpions under his feet. He yelps as one of
the scorpions stings him, slowing him down.
He has to use the power of Asclepius to take care of the poison. Since
he can only use one superpower at the same time he can't use his
speed. That enables the scorpions to gather again and form a slightly
smaller version of Scorpion God.
"You cannot defeat me!" Scorpion God says and takes a swing with his
tail. Godling grabs the tail and swings Scorpion God against the roof,
using the strength of Heracles. The roof cracks, but stays intact.
Scorpion God falls apart once more.
Channelling Hephaestus Godling sets the scorpions afire, burning them
to crisps.
At that moment Wade Hudson walks in, accompanied by his SWAT-team. He
is shocked by the carnage he encounters.
"Call in the paramedics, your services are not needed anymore,"
Godling says and runs off.
"Good Lord, what happened over here?" Tyler says.
"It was terrible," Janson says. "That monster just appeared on stage
and started slaughtering people out of nowhere. If it hadn't been for
Godling..."
"Yeah, yeah," Wade cuts her off. "He's friggin' great. It's just that
this thing is another in a long line of freaky things to appear in
this place since his first appearance. I'm starting to wonder..."
Quentin walks to Janson. She runs towards him and gives him a big hug.
"You're all right! Thank God, I was so worried."
Their eyes lock, lips move closer and they kiss.
"Well, what do you know," Wade says. "And here I was thinking our
professor didn't like girls."

*

On the street, in front of the Coliseum Jeremiah stands, in his robe.
He muses, "The omelette has been made, too bad about the eggs. What
needed to happen has happened." He pulls off his hood, showing the
face of Godling, wearing an eye patch underneath.
His image starts to shimmer and then he's gone.

woensdag 2 oktober 2013

The supervillain called Nuclear Warrior,
clad in a red and yellow costume with a radiation symbol on it, flies
through the sky, manoeuvring between the tall skyscrapers of New Troy.
Godling is following him, using Perseus’ power of flight. I’m not going
to let him get away, Godling thinks. There’s too many of Master Destiny’s
thugs that escaped (last issue, ed.) for me to let any one of them get away
when I see one. Suddenly, Nuclear Warrior turns around and blasts Godling
who just in time manages to channel the invulnerability of Achilles. The
power of the blast smacks him right through a building. He ends up on a
desk of a very full office. There’s a lot of panic among the office workers.
Nuclear Warrior flies into the office through the hole the hero left.
Godling gets up, just in time to avoid one of the supervillain’s blasts.
Using the power of sun god Apollo he blinds the villain with a bright
blast of light. He follows that up with a roundhouse right, using the
strength of Heracles. Nuclear Warrior is knocked out. “All right people,
everything is in control. No need to worry. I’ll come by later to repair the
damage,” Godling said to the office workers. There was a moment of pause and
doubt, but finally he was rewarded with applause. The people of New Troy had
all been witness of how Godling freed the city from Master Destiny.
Godling picks up the villain and flies off.

* DA Linda Cooper is
giving her opening statement to the judge when all hell breaks loose.. On
trial is the supervillain called Mr. Gator, half human, half alligator. The
villain suddenly rises from his chair and attacks her. Luckily, there’s
extra security there and they all jump on the villain, prying her off the
DA. He knocks them off his body however and runs for the exit. Guns are
fired at him, but his scaly hide is not penetrated by the bullets and he
walks out of the Court Building. Just as he leaves, Wade Hudson gets out
of his car and spots him. Without hesitation he gets back in his car and
drives into Mr. Gator. Wide eyed the villain sees the car coming but he’s
too late to avoid it and ends up on it’s hood, uncounscious. Hudson gets
out, 9mm handgun aimed at the villain. Linda Coopers exclaims, “My God!
Haven’t you ever heard of excessive force?” Hudson says, “That only
works for normal perps. These superpowered crazies need excessive force. In
fact, did you ever wonder how we’re going to keep these thugs from breaking
out of the Court Room?” “Maybe we should ask Godling for help?” Cooper
offers. Hudson crosses his arms defiantly. “Are we going to keep turning to
that showboat for help? Isn’t it time we started to fend for ourselves?
What if something happens to him? We need to be able to fight back against
these crazies. Without Godling.”

* Godling lands at Tartarus II, the
prison he made with the power of the Spear of Destiny, Nuclear Warrior in
his arms. The gates open and he is greeted by one of the robotic guards, one
of the New Hekatoncheires. “New delivery,” Godling tells it. “I will
take care of it,” say the robot and takes Nuclear Warrior out of the hero’s
arms with its tentacles. “I will pick him up when he’s ready to go to
trial.” “Affirmative.” The robot carried the villain further inside.
Tartarus II was filled with cells that were able to deal with the many
superpowered thugs captured when Master Destiny was arrested. There were
bars made from mythical steel, and some cells were filled with water, others
with fire. There was no escape possible. Godling felt a little bad about
what he had used his powers for. Imprisoning people seemed wrong to him,
even if it were all criminals. It was the only way to keep New Troy safe
from them however. Godling flew off. * Master Destiny was sitting in
a normal prison cell, in New Troy’s regular prison. After all, without the
Spear of Destiny he was just a regular human being. There was a doctor
with him. Master Destiny looks about about ninety years old. There’s
also a guard with the doctor, saying, “I don’t get it. When he came in hear
he looked to be about forty years old.” “I can’t help you. I’ve never seen
anything like this,” the doctor says. Destiny says, softly, “The Spear
kept me from aging, without it I’m slowly aging again. I will die in this
cell. I swear however, death will not be the end of me!” His eyes
closed. “He’s dead,” the doctor says. “What was that stuff about death
being not the end?” the guard says. “It creeped me out.” “Ramblings of a
dying man,” the doctor says. They don’t notice the strange shadow on the
wall. The shadow that seems to be the shape of a devil. It’s there just
briefly and gone in seconds. * Godling lands at the Coffee Pit, one
of New Troy’s coffee bars. As soon as he’s landed he changes into professor
Quentin Alexander and walks in. Officer Janson is already waiting for
him at a table. She is out of uniform, her hair loose, wearing a tank top
and a skirt. She looks sexy. “Hi,” Quentin says. “Finally, the cup of
coffee we planned on having.” “Yeah, my sick leave gives me the free time to
catch up on my social life,” Janson says. Quentin sits down. “How are
you doing?” “Well, okay I guess. The department issued Darlene and me some
pretty good shrinks. Although Darlene seems to have little need for one.
She’s already back on duty, taking out her anger on the bad guys.” “It
must have been terrible for you, to be so helpless against Master Destiny.”
“It could’ve been a whole lot worse if it wasn’t for Godling. But enough
about that. Let’s leave it at the fact I’m feeling better by the day and
hopefully will be back on the job soon. I want to get to know you a little
bit better.” “Same here,” Quentin says with a smile. “I’m afraid I’m not as
interesting a person as, say, Godling.” “I doubt that. Tell me, did you
always want to become a teacher?” “Not exactly. I’ve always been interested
in mythology however. Not much to do with an interest like that but become a
teacher. What about you? Did you always want to be a cop?” “Ever since
my sister got killed.” “Your sister got killed? That’s awful!” “I was
just a kid, ten years old. She was just an innocent bystander, killed in a
drive-by shooting. Since then I guess I felt the desire to protect people. I
didn’t want other kids to go through what I went through.” “Doesn’t
sound like an easy childhood,” Quentin says. “Yours was eve worse. I don’t
feel at ease with you feeling sorry for my past.” She was probably talking
about the death of Quentin’s own parents and the fact his brother was in
jail. Quentin sighs. “Let’s just say we both have some baggage to carry
along. But let’s talk about nicer things, get to know each other a bit
better on another level. Like, what sort of music do you like?” “I love
folk punk. Street Dogs, Dropkick Murphy’s, Flogging Molly,” Janson says.
Quentin gives her a blank look. “I have absolutely never heard of them.
I’m more of a Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash lover myself.” That was probably the
age difference talking there, Quentin thought. “I love Cash! Especially the
American Recordings. In fact, there’s this Cash-tribute band playing
tomorrow night, right here in New Troy. Would you like to go there with me?”
Quentin smiles a big smile. “I’d love to.” “Great!” Janson exclaims and
gives Quentin a quick peck on the cheek. “Hi,” someone says at that moment.
It’s Monica Sawyer, she’s just walked in. “Monica!” Quentin says and
thinks, I almost feel like she caught me cheating on her or something, how
stupid is that? “Hello miss Sawyer,” Janson says. “I just felt an urgent
need for some frappacino,” Monica says. “I didn’t know you two were seeing
each other.” “Well, it’s not that exactly… I mean, I --,” Quentin stammers.
“He means today is the first day we’ve been seeing each other without me
handcuffing him,” Janson says. “Kinky,” Monica says. Quentin and Janson
both get very red. Here I am with this lovely young woman and Monica walks
in and suddenly I can’t think about how good Monica smells, how great her
smile is, Quentin thinks.

* At the other side of the city, in an
abandoned building six men in dark robes stand in a circle. Above their
heads they hold gold swords as they chant. “Ikway-chai-da-way.
Ikway-chai-da-way. Ikway-chai-da.” From a dark hole in the middle of the
circle a giant scorpion tail slowly appears. “Welcome, Scorpion God,”
one of the men in robes says. “We welcome you to our dimension which we
offer for you to take. Soon, Earth will be yours.”

Over mij

I am a dutch writer, writing often in english. My special interests are crime movies and novels, rock music (I am a rock reporter for a dutch site) and comic books.
You can write me at jvdsteen@hotmail.com